Lokayukta Vishwanath Shetty held a meeting to hear the grief of public

Mangaluru: Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice Vishwanath Shetty, said the Lokayukta meeting was called on to hear the grief of public and not for the elected representatives to complain against officials. He further said that the Lokayukta institution was established to address inordinate delays in attending to work relating to the general public. He stressed that the institution is not meant for settling disputes between people’s representatives and government officials.

Justice Vishwanath Shetty dismissed the plea against municipal commissioner of Puttur city, Roopa Shetty, by municipal president, Jayanti Balnad, during the public grievances hearing and disposal programme held in his presence in the office of the district deputy commissioner here on Monday.  He even pulled up the advocate who had appeared for the TMC President as petitioner failed to personally be present at the venue of the programme, and instead, deputed her legal adviser.

He also stated that the TMC Chief could have very well placed the issue at the Council meet and filed a complaint with the higher authorities. If such a petition is accepted then it would set a bad trend for other elected representatives who may continue filing cases against officials, he said.

“If the complaint had been accepted, the petitioner’s presence would have been required. This happens to be a programme for listening to grievances of the people, not a forum for settling disputes in panchayats and politics. If the president is compelled to file complaint against the commissioner, she is ineligible to remain in that post. If the commissioner fails to work to the satisfaction of the council, a suitable resolution can be passed in the municipal council. If the complaints filed against officials are found to be false, cases will have to be registered against such complainants,” he added. He advised people not to take Lokayukta institution lightly.

When hearing complaint about illegal sand mining, the Lokayukta sought reports on illegal sand mining and stone quarrying respectively by February third and second week.

Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, Sasikanth Senthil, additional DC, Kumar, district superintendent of police, Sudheer Reddy, zilla panchayat chief executive officer, Dr MR Ravi and others were present.